George Henry Ford Goodwin Gregory

George Henry Ford Goodwin Gregory was born on 24 June 1917 in Govan, Glasgow, one of the seven children of Edwin and Agnes Gregory, and worked as a printer before joining the Royal Air Force at the outbreak of war. Serving as an air gunner with No. 44 Squadron, he completed a full operational tour by the autumn of 1942 and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal; he was later commissioned and, in March 1943, posted to the newly formed No. 617 Squadron at RAF Scampton, where he joined the crew of Flight Lieutenant John Hopgood. On the night of the Dams Raid (Operation Chastise), Pilot Officer Gregory flew as front gunner of Lancaster ED925/G, coded AJ-M, which formed part of the first wave and was the second aircraft to attack the Möhne Dam. Heavy flak struck the Lancaster on its run in to the target — it is believed Gregory was killed or mortally wounded during this fire some twenty minutes before the dam was reached — and after the mine was released too late and bounced over the dam, the burning aircraft crashed nearby. He was 25 years old. Gregory is buried in Rheinberg War Cemetery in Germany, in a collective grave alongside his pilot Hopgood and crewmates Brennan, Earnshaw and Minchin.